Finally More Progress on the 75 TS

[shane wescott]

After a discussion with another club member about my stuck bolt in the disc the suggestion was made that an angle grinder would be the go.

After some judicious (and careful) use of my trusty Bosch unit, the head is off and the bolt is out, so the disc can now be replaced :-) :-) :-) :-)

Finally some progress, Feb 6 is not that far away and Kerry is on my ass wanting the 75 ready for driver training :-)

Just the tail shaft donuts to do, put it all back, adjust the rear brakes, and it should be all go :-)

Very happy now.

[Mat Francis]

Excellent news Shane. Keep up the good work!

And don't get scared off by all the recent whinging about tail shafts! A bit of grim determination and common sense will go a long way, and before you know it you will be fighting with Kerry over who gets to drive the thing 

[shane wescott]

Thanks Mat that could be a problem.

Got the new disc on and then trying to work out what i did (months ago) with bits from the pads. Thought i setup the other pads (but didnt) so i have a new set of pads somewhere :-(  and then ony found 3 of the 4 pins that hold the pads in :-(

I am assuming they are available as a kit so chasing that now and searchign the house for the pads.

Anyway progress is progress :-)

[shane wescott]

found the pin :-) and the pads :-) :-)

Picked up two bolts to replace the hacked off one and another dodgy one. Time for new pads - bugger they are such a pain to get the pins into. I'm sure after the 50th time of doing them they will be easy but at the moment they are a pain :-(

[Mat Francis]

If you can get the rear end up high enough so that you can kind of sit under the rear of the car (ie not lying on your back, trying to do it blind whilst your stomach cramps), it will be a whole lot easier.

And don't forget the copper eze or similar for those bolts!

[john m]

Shane,
before removing the tail shafts and donuts, use white-out to mark the orientation of these componants to each other to avoid possible vibrations. You should back-off the rear transaxle mount. The one that sits in a diagonal slot. When the drive shaft parts are tightened up and the rear mount still loose, lower the car off the jacks or stands and let it idle on the ground while safely tighting the rear mount. This helps to realign the drive train. 

[shane wescott]

Thanks for that tip John.

Almost finished the rear pads tonight. As usual when there is ajob on a car to do I am a bit like Edison, I like to find all the ways that dont work first :-)

After wrestling with the pegs etc for an hour or so I realised I had everything arse about :-(

So just for the record (in case like me you disassemble the brakes months before refitting them) here is how I am pretty sure it goes.

1. you should have 4 pegs (2 each brake caliper) and 4 wire clips, and 2 springy thingies that hold the brake shoes in place. If you are missing any of these you can buy a kit from alfaholics in the US.

2. The pegs are "L" shaped  and here is the first rule - the small leg of the "L" always goes outboard. Dont try the other way it doesnt work and doesnt fit. I would have found this out earlier but my manual seems to always be missing the pages with the pickies :-( So after the neighbors slammed the windows a third time in response to my audible abuse of an alfa, I worked this out all by myself :-)

3. You can put the front peg in all the way (make sure you align the pad holes), and then fit the springy thingie.

4. Push down on the springy thingie at the back and slide the rear peg in so the peg goes over the springy thingie curvy bit. Be careful here because if you let go of the springy thingie it will shooty wooty off in a weird direction and could take hours to locate.

5. there is a small hole in each peg for the wire clips, rotate the pegs so the small part of the "L" is facing to the rear of the car. This put the hole on the top.

6. the pegs should be pushed in far enough so the hole is on the inside of the outer pad.

7. Using a mirror to see what the hell you are doing (grrrrr), push the clip down so the "leg" of the clip is over the top of the brake pad to lock the peg and secure the pad.

Now you just need to follow the excellent instructions for adjusting the pad clearance elsewhere in this forum, but I would probably suggest a nice glass of single malt first - i'll make mine a lagavulin :-)

catch ya

shane

[shane wescott]

Brakes are finished and adjusted using the directins on the forum :-)

Maybe if it cools down later I will start on the fron of the drive shaft and hopefully get that out.